The regional govt national initiative necessary to take advantage of AEC, says ADB

Asian governments should undertake regional actions to reap the benefits of integration initiatives such as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and be in a strong position to meet the overall national economic volatility and, according to the Asian Development Bank.
"Strengthening regional integration will help Asian developing countries to be more productive and efficient at a time when the global economy is in flux," Iwan Azis, Head, Office of Regional Economic Integration, ADB said yesterday.
"To do that, and to avoid falling prey to domestic protectionist pressures, governments must act now to ratify, implement and enforce regional agreements."
The "Asian Economic Integration Monitor", a semiannual report of the Asian Development Bank, said that Asia has been mixed progress in regional cooperation and integration recently in the context of a changing economic and financial environment. Trade and capital flows have declined slightly border despite improvements in cross-border foreign direct investment, the purchase of bonds, bank loans and tourist flows.
Progress towards the AEC has been steady but slow. The region has to work harder to address barriers to trade in economically sensitive sectors such as agriculture, steel and motor vehicles, as well as the reduction of non-tariff barriers are increasingly replacing the tariffs as barriers to international trade, the bank said.
The liberalization of trade in services and the adoption of policies and the protection of intellectual property rights competition - all the difficult areas of reform - national require instead of regional. Therefore, 2015 will be a milestone rather than an end point to fully achieve the objectives set by the AEC Asean.
Work should continue beyond 2015, particularly to increase the mobility of workers to unskilled and skilled workers can move across borders more easily.
Increased labor mobility will allow the region to reap the benefits of all other reforms.
There is a need to tackle other trade barriers, including excessive fees in customs procedures and trade finance. Addressing these issues is where the main benefits are trade, according to the Asian Development Bank. Each 1 percent savings in transaction costs related to trade is estimated to produce an overall benefit U.S. $ 43 billion (Bt1.3 trillion).
National actions combined with a multilateral agreement on trade facilitation - is expected to be signed at the Ministerial Conference of the ninth World Trade Organization in Indonesia from December 3 to 6 - are key to these achievements.
Regional cooperation may face economic uncertainty and other cross-border challenges such as climate change, health issues and territorial disputes.
This can be achieved through an increased political dialogue, stronger regional institutions, better transport links, the capital markets and deeper regional financial safety nets.